Since the Covid-19 pandemic, many car retailers have made a shift to conducting more business and sales online and recent research from Carzone indicates that now 53 per cent of people surveyed said they would pay a deposit for a car online. Furthermore, 24 per cent of those surveyed said that they could pay in full for a car online, while 57 per cent said they would consider buying a car online and have it delivered to their home.
Show finance examples online for each vehicle
Finance remains a considerable part of dealership business, and with its partner, CodeWeavers Ltd, sellers can now advertise their finance offers for each stock vehicle. Buyers can see what the monthly finance cost over HP or PCP in addition to the full cost of the car. Carzone has also added a live chat function to enable dealers to respond in realtime to potential buyers. Recently, 61 per cent of surveyed car buyers said that being able to see a video tour of the car would make them feel more comfortable about buying online, and 53 per cent would find live chat with retailers of benefit.
To speed up the process and improve the quality of lead generation, there is also a trade-in feature. With this online form, customers can enter the details of their part-ex including registration number, mileage and an approximation of the vehicle's condition. The data is then fed to the dealer in a one concise lead form.
For some retailers, these will be new methods that have not been used before, and to help alert buyers to the provision of these tools Carzone has a new set of icons or 'selling flags' to help highlight them. These will allow people browsing the adverts to quickly see that video calls or tours, home delivery and trade-in features are available. These remote selling flags are available to add to a listing free of charge.